All over the Liberian capital yesterday, people were straining to hear a voice they had not heard in more than three years. They ignored the black clouds threatening a deluge and congregated on Monrovia's street corners around communal radios; they asked taxi drivers to retune the station. Then came that calm tone, the familiar stresses on certain words. Charles Taylor was a world away in a European courtroom, but he was still speaking as if he were the president of my country.

Liberia's former President Charles Taylor, the first African ruler to stand trial for war crimes, took the stand in his own defense on Tuesday, arguing that the case against him was full of misinformation and lies.

For one year, prosecution witnesses accused the former Liberian President Charles Taylor of atrocities that ranged from cannibalism to commanding Sierra Leone rebels who had hacked off villagers' limbs, and of selling weapons and ammunition in exchange for "blood diamonds".

Civil war tore the nation apart for 11 years, but the beautiful beaches that were once the setting for the Bounty chocolate bar advertisements are now back on the tourist map. Katrina Manson reports from Freetown

"Littell [in 'The Kindly Ones'] knows almost everything there is to know about Nazi Germany, gets every detail right, and gives us the whole thing without sugar coating, or any attempt to make it any easier on your conscience... Littell is a genius, both as a historian, and as a novelist, but he isn't trying to make you feel good about yourself, or feel morally superior to the Germans, or come away from the book with the feeling that anything has been gained or proved by the murder in cold blood of six million people."

Eric Kimmel is taking America's discarded clothes, adding African ingenuity and fashion flair, and selling the results for up to $300 in an attempt to bring prosperity to Sierra Leone. Katrina Manson reports